by Mandy Harbin
Anna laughed. “I know that. Just had a minute, so I thought I’d call.”
“Well, the guys are all hanging around the garage looking at wedding magazines. It’s the funniest thing I think I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh God, you should take a pic and use it as blackmail later.”
“Already done it. Twice.”
Anna shook her head to keep from laughing again in an effort to stay focused. “So how’s your mission coming?”
Shelby sighed. “I don’t like this. These guys have helped the feds for years. I feel like we’re betraying them.”
“Shelby—”
“I’m sorry. I know I’m not supposed to get close to people on a case, and I don’t want you think this means I’ll always get close to people on other cases because I haven’t been doing this for very long. This is just different.”
“Believe me, I get it.”
After a long silent pause, Shelby said, “Good. To answer your question, no, I haven’t learned jack. I seriously don’t think we’ll get anything out of these guys until after the wedding. We should’ve booked this mission for two weeks later.”
Anna agreed. No matter what the Bang Shift would’ve normally been doing right now, Brody’s wedding to Xan had taken priority with all the guys.
As it should have been.
“So how’s Blade?” she asked.
Such a loaded question. “He’s fine. I mean, nothing new on my end.” Why did she stare at her hand and the major bling on that finger?
“Mmm-hmm. You’re forgetting about that night we had drinks with Viola about a month after the Dallas op. You muttered something about Blade and a mistake in between shots of tequila.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Anna said quickly.
“Sure,” Shelby said slowly. “Just trying to let you know that if you need to talk about anything—off the record—I’m here for you.”
“There’s nothing to say.” Because that was the only thing to say at this point. And probably ever.
“Okay, girl. I’ll touch base with you if something changes.”
“Is that your polite way of telling me not to check on you every day?” Anna smiled.
“Most definitely.”
“All right. Message received.”
They said their goodbyes, and Anna pocketed her phone, feeling productive having touched base with both Rick and Shelby in a short amount of time. Good thing, since Blade’s family was probably here already, which meant she had to get her game face on and go back inside.
Yep, just needed to walk back in the house.
In a minute.
She took five.
And then it still took several minutes of breathing slowly to psych herself up to be the perfect girlfriend.
Fiancée. Jeez. She spent another couple of minutes staring at her ring. Not her ring, the ring. It wasn’t hers.
When she was as ready as she was going to be, she walked through the French doors with her head held high as if she had every right to be there among his family.
“There she is,” Blade said, grinning from ear to ear as if he counted down the seconds until she returned.
Anna smiled as she approached the small group.
“Damn, Blade, you didn’t say she was hot.” Though his words were playful, his gaze tracked her. She couldn’t blame his family for being suspicious. It just showed how smart they were to question what was happening rather than blindly accept the cover story. She was glade she took those extra minutes outside to get her head into the game.
“Lauren,” Blade’s mother admonished.
Anna stuck her hand out to the guy who was closer, but she didn’t do it for that reason alone. This man was the biggest in the room, and her training kicked in. Not that she felt threatened, but it was ingrained in her to suss out any dangerous ones first. “Anna Sue Fisher.”
“Well, hello there, cher. Justin Beauregard.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Justin.”
Blade grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from Justin. “Okay, okay, let her go.” He chuckled and pointed at the other guy. “This is Justin’s brother and my other cousin, Lauren.”
“Actually it’s Laurent, but I go by Lauren.”
“Like the vampire?” Anna asked, smirking. The guy had dark, straight hair that swept over his eyes and an angular jaw. Slap some blood trickling from his lip and a trench coat, and he could totally pass as the fictional creature with an urban flare.
“But of course.” He winked.
“Jesus, she’s spoken for, you guys. Get your own girls.”
“But we like yours,” Justin said with an easy shrug.
“Not that anyone can miss that ring,” Lauren said with a raised eyebrow.
Anna smiled at his charming cousins as she wrapped her arms around Blade. “Sorry, I only have eyes for one man, and that’ never going to change.”
Blade’s mom giggled. “I’m so excited you’re getting married.”
“We are, too,” she answered for Blade. Anna needed to show more excitement about it, instead of relying solely on Blade to sell the charade.
He kissed the top of her head. “I’m through with business for now. I want to take you on a tour of the property.”
She gaped at him. “Like all of it?”
Justin guffawed.
“No, babe, not today. But over the next few days, I want to go over all of it. We’ll ride wheelers over part, but I want to walk some areas tonight.”
“I’ll need to change my shoes.”
He dipped and kissed her swiftly on the lips, then he swatted her on the butt. “Hop to it. We’re burning daylight hours.”
She ran up the stairs, changed into tennis shoes, and jogged back down. The shoes didn’t really go with her outfit, but if he wanted to trek through swamps, she needed comfort over fashion. When she reached the bottom of the staircase, Blade was the only one standing there.
“Where’s everyone at?”
“Mom’s in the kitchen, looking at ideas for dinner. My cousins are leaving. They have other plans tonight but said they’d be back tomorrow for brunch.”
“Oh, okay.”
He took her hand, and they walked out the back door into the lush landscape of Louisiana.
“I can’t get over how beautiful it is here. Back home there’s nothing but cornfields as far as the eye can see.” She chuckled.
“Kansas, right?” Did his thumb rub on the back of her hand?
“You remembered.” They’d talked a lot in Dallas, but the more she looked back on her time with him, she realized she’d been the one doing most of the talking.
“Of course,” he said softly. Yes, that was definitely his thumb tracing soothing circles.
“On that mission, I was the one with diarrhea of the mouth. I think it’s your turn to spill your guts.”
“That sounds gross on both counts.” He chuckled. When she raised an eyebrow at him not backing down, he added, “Not much to tell.”
“Well, since this one intersects with your personal life, I beg to differ. What if someone starts asking things I should know the answers to, or I say something totally off, like mention your favorite food but you’re actually allergic to it.”
He snickered. “You’re an agent. I’m sure you’re very good under pressure. In fact, I know you are.”
“Brax,” she breathed, just wanting him to open up. Not for the sake of her mission. She just wanted to know. Wanted him to let her in.
He didn’t say anything as they walked, but he held her hand tighter. When they reached a beautiful weeping willow next to some marshy land, he stopped and gazed at it. “This was my sister’s favorite tree.”
Oh God. When she wanted him to open up to her, she hadn’t expected he’d broach something so personal. She’d quickly figured out his sister was gone when his mom had shown her the family photographs. But that had been initiated by his mother, not him. Now, Anna held her breath as the sliver of light ca
me through the door he was opening for her, letting her in. She had wanted to ask about the girl before, but now she didn’t dare utter a word. After several seconds where it felt as if Blade was going to crush her hand, he finally spoke.
“She was killed.” His grip eased, but she refused to pull her hand away and shake feeling back into her fingers, afraid of breaking the spell. “She was found beaten and stabbed. Autopsy showed she’d also been raped.” He made a sound of disgust. “Or at least had rough sex prior to the murder.”
Her heart hurt for him, but that didn’t stop her investigative instinct from kicking in. “They catch him?”
“No.”
“Any semen?”
“No.”
“Have a boyfriend?”
“A douchebag.”
“Was he cleared?”
Blade’s gaze slid to her. His eyes hard, challenging. “He disappeared.”
Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. She didn’t have to ask what happened because she knew from the look in his eyes that he was the one who’d made the guy vanish.
She was stunned in silence.
If she posed the question, he’d either outright lie about it, or he’d confess. I don’t want to hear either one. A lie would throw up walls. A confession would leave her no choice but to arrest him. Everything prior to this point was circumstantial and easier to ignore. Jesus, her heart pounded so hard as she contemplated what to say.
Finally, Anna gave a slow nod and looked over the water. “Just as well,” she said smoothly because she didn’t know how else to respond. Anything else was too dangerous. Maybe after she’d had time to mull over everything, she’d ask, but not right now. Right now, she couldn’t think of anything beyond what he admitted using very few words.
He disappeared.
“Fuck,” Blade breathed, yanking his hand away and stalking over to his left before turning and going to the edge of the water.
The air around her suddenly felt very thin and fragile, so Anna decided not to follow him. Instead, she walked straight ahead to the water directly in front of the tree. The grass was taller in front of her, much higher compared to where Blade stood off to the side. She really couldn’t see where the water started, so she didn’t get too close. No way did she want to risk falling into swampy waters.
She stood there looking over the marshy area, glancing over at Blade every few minutes and wondering if he was going to blow. Even from this distance, she could tell he was practically vibrating with emotion. The man was either about to spew everything and damn the consequences, or he was forcing everything behind that door and locking it shut with a great amount of effort. Either way—
The grass suddenly moved, and a horror much greater than hearing details of a murder confession crashed into Anna a second before she screamed. Stumbling away from the bank, she only got a few feet from the edge before she tripped over a root, her palms slamming on the ground behind her as she fell.
“Anna!” Blade rushed over just as an alligator emerged through the weeds. She barely caught Blade whipping his shirt off, the material flying on top of the animal and covering its eyes. Without hesitation, Blade grabbed her as she came to her feet and dragged her back, jogging away as he sheathed a scary looking knife—a knife she hadn’t seen him holding until that moment—and pulled out a 9mm handgun.
The alligator thrashed, dislodging the shirt, and turned back the way it came rather than coming after them.
“I didn’t know you were carrying,” she muttered, instantly missing her firearm as the adrenaline began to wane and she started to shiver.
He turned toward her as he shoved his gun in into his jeans, and then he clutched her arms. “Jesus, Anna, you do not go near the water.”
“Why didn’t you just shoot it?” she heard herself ask, but she wondered if the words even all came out of her mouth.
He ran a hand through his hair as if he was trying to calm down. If so, the storm in his eyes told her he was losing that battle. “There’s only a small area on the head you can penetrate that’ll actually kill a gator. I didn’t want to piss it off, or risk you getting hit from a ricochet.”
She balked. “What would a knife have done then?”
“Fuck, you’re bleeding.” He grabbed her wrist and stared at her hand. He growled something and tugged her into the house, obviously done hearing her adrenaline infused rambling.
Because a freaking alligator almost had her for dinner.
Holy shit. A shiver rocked through her, setting off a stream of constant tremors as Blade guided her through the darkened halls. Even her teeth betrayed her when they began to chatter. She was a skilled FBI agent, for crying out loud. She has come face-to-face with some of the country’s most dangerous criminals without breaking a sweat.
Hell, without breaking a fingernail.
But there was huge difference between gators and gangsters.
“Are you even fucking listening me?”
Was he talking? Anna couldn’t get her jittery brain to make her mouth fess up that she hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
Great. She’d made a rookie mistake regarding danger, and now she was having a meltdown.
In front of the man who owned a part of her.
A part she knew, even in the state she was embarrassingly in, she’d never get back.
If she had her wits about her, she’d be looking for a hole to crawl into right about now. Preferably one that was alligator free.
“Jesus, you’re shaking.”
But when he wrapped her in an embrace, the tremors eased slightly and she melted into his warmth, pretending she’d always have a place right there in his protective arms.
Chapter Seven
Blade did his best not to yank Anna through the halls of the house as he fought off the knot of irritation that settled deep within his core. She could’ve been killed. Fucking attacked at the very least. Even lost some limbs.
“Don’t you know how precious your life is?” he muttered to her. “You should always, always be on guard to make sure nothing happens to you. Jesus Christ, Anna, you work in law enforcement. Doesn’t that require some sixth sense shit when it comes to dangerous things? Do you think it gets any more dangerous than wild animals?” he yelled.
He wasn’t being fair. He knew that. But he was still in fight or flight mode, and since he wasn’t fleeing, that left only one option. Being a dick.
“Are you even fucking listening to me?” he asked, flipping on the light switch of the bathroom as they walked in. He didn’t look at her while grabbing gauze and peroxide because he needed a few more seconds to rein in his misplaced anger. Because through the furious haze, he knew whose fault this really was.
His.
Blade knew the dangers of the swamps. Hell, his company devoted time to safety, requiring hunters to view videos on the dangers of the sport prior to hunting on their land. Anna wasn’t a hunter. She’d never lived in Louisiana or an area where alligators lurked. The worst thing in the wild she’d probably faced before today was a crow that’d gotten loose in the cornfields. Yeah, this was all his damn fault, and he was taking it out on her.
With a deep breath, he deposited the medical supplies on the counter and faced her. If any irritation was left, it evaporated in an instant when he saw how pale she was.
“Babe?” He clutched her upper arms, worried she might pass out. “Jesus, you’re shaking.” He pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
“N-no. I d-did hear what you said.” She shivered, and he rubbed slow circles on her back.
“Forget it. I was just freaking out.”
Her little laugh was laced with nervous tension. “Makes t-two of us.”
“Anna,” he breathed into her hair. “I’m sorry. I won’t let that happen again.” He couldn’t control the animals, but he could control how close she got to danger. And he damn well would.
“I-I’m getting b-blood on you,” she said, and she tried to pull away from him, but he wasn’t having
it. He squeezed her, not letting her budge.
“Don’t care.”
As he held her, the trembling slowed. It could’ve been ten seconds or ten minutes, he didn’t know. Time ceased to process. When she sighed and snuggled into his chest with the last of the tremors, he kissed the top of her head.
“Better?”
She nodded and shifted, which he reluctantly allowed because he seriously didn’t want her to leave the security of his arms. No harm could come to her if he just held her forever.
With a little freedom, she didn’t step away, though. Rather, she looked up at him, color back in her cheeks, her big eyes trained on his. God, she was so beautiful. How she made him feel, it almost hurt to look at her. Feelings he’d long suppressed. He gazed for as long as he could, but to stop the almost suffering, he dropped his forehead to hers, cutting off his view of her, because it was times like this that made it too painful to look at the one thing he wanted most and couldn’t have.
“Thank you.”
“Nothing to be thankful for.” That wasn’t entirely true because he was damn well thankful for her. Though, he knew what she meant with her appreciation, and she didn’t need to be thankful for him rescuing her from the alligator when he was the one to put her in that danger in the first place. “It was my fault.”
“Blade,” she breathed, and leaned back to look at him.
Those eyes. He could get lost in them, start saying things that were best kept buried deep. Yet, as he continued to gaze at her, the urge to confess his feelings was too much to bear. Without conscious thought, his mouth opened.
Anna’s tongue peeked out, wetting her lips.
Blade groaned and leaned down, not even pretending to resist. He was sure when his mouth opened, he was going to spill feelings welling inside, but now he had zero intention of talking.
He was going to kiss her. There was no stopping him. But he refused to crash his lips to hers and take her like a rutting animal, especially when she was just recovering from another beastly encounter. She deserved tender, to be treated as if she was some rare fragile glass. Because she was precious to him.
Priceless.
And incredibly fragile.
